Bad news.I wont be touching my car for a while

ricardoa1

Registered User
For some of you who have followed my progress on my heads, thanks for all the help. I am sure I will need your help next year when I decide to spend more money on it.

Friday night I took my SC with the new heads and cam from Steig, and the car ran like a bat out of hell. But I had some problems due to the need of A chip. Well yesterday morning at around 8:30am on my way to get an aligment, the car stalled and I got stranded on the side of the road, this time the starter did not crank the engine. As I opened the hood I feared the worst, I opened the oil filler cap to find steam and smoke jetting out, on the cap white sludge covered the cap. There I wait for the Tow truck who was very rude and looked at me like an idiot for having a lowered car. Anyway late last nite after work I decided to crank the engine with a wrench at the crank, and to fing out that the engine is locked up and seized.

The only satisfaction I got with the new heads was humiliating this guy in a new 03 V6 Accord Coupe. I smoked him bad. :D

Well in the next few months I think Ill just chill with this thing. I am in debt about $8,000 all because of the car, mind you the car is payed for.

I hope to make SC events next year but who knows, I might not, Ill take any ideas on making a nice strong short block, although I might get a reman from ford, I work for them so I get the cool 10 over discount. BUt this wont happen till next year.

SCya
 
I"m sooooo sorry to hear about this. I hope you get a chance come spring to rebuild that monster.

Well I'm glad you had blown away that other V6

Good Luck ricardo!! :D

Jeff B.
 
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hey jeff... ur SC on that pic looks like an eclipse. them old ones though. for some strange reason it does.

well sorry to hear that the engine seized on you. good luck man
 
Ricardo,

Sorry to hear that, I've had several similar set backs over the past three years. I call it the SC shuffle, it goes like this....One step forward and Two steps backwards....repeat.

If your going to build a tough bottom end, you might as well go all out and get a 4.2 billet crank while your at it. With it and a .050 over bore you'll have a 4.3 liter SC. I know that me and at least one other guy is thinking about buying the crank, and if a couple more people get in on a buy, we could probably lower the $2100 price a little.

David
 
Sorry to hear about your setback, that really sucks!:mad:

How did it happen? Headgaskets blew? Or was it the lack of a chip? The engine just stalled while driving with no warning?

Hope to see you up and running soon...
 
I think there was coolanat in the engine and made the bearings go. NO warning or noise, a quiet death.

I like the 4.3 idea tell me more. Is there more info floating around?
 
like the 4.3 idea tell me more. Is there more info floating around?

Very little info on this and the only person who has done it (with a stroked billet crank) that I know of is Fred. I'll see what info I can round up then we can see who else might be interested.

David
 
A good shortblock can be done cheap with addition of custom pistons and h beam rods...And Agirdle...Get into strokers and youll eb spending ALOT more
 
Dont I loose the windage tray thats on the 94-95SC if I go with the girdle?


I might go the cheaper route, Ross pistons, H beam rods, I hope my crank is still good.
 
Unless you modify tray yes...Now you can always get the crank coated or polished to keep the oil off it;O)..Seriously though..A Main girdle..All ARP bolts..Hbeam rods/Forged pistons and a BHJ balancer...That will do ya good...And all for less then the stroker crank alone!
 
Man I feel for you dude! Thats a real heartbreak to lose an engine like that.:( The car looks awesome and I even downloaded the pic of your car a couple of months back for future reference. I am planning to hook my own 89 SC but to what I have not decided yet. Good luck in repairing you engine.;)
 
Unless you modify tray


What modifications is needed, I searched and only Bill Mc and V6sprout had done this, and that has some info on it, they all direct to contact Morana Racing.
I am curious to know whats involved.
 
Hey ricardoa1, I have a couple of questions. Was it difficult to swap the early model Tbird bumper and Lights to the later model version? What has to be done to accomplish the swap? Did you buy the bumper from the junkyard or bought it new from some other vendor? I might consider doing that to my Tbird when I have the money to get the body painted. Thanks.
:)
 
Sorry to hear that,you have one sweet sc there.
David when are you looking to get the 4.2 cranks,I have contacted a few places about getting a billit crank made,but the prices i got were way up there(the lowest was $3500).If there is a GP for it I will be in depending on when it gets done
 
I think I would buy a crank if I could sell my short block at the time. I understand that turn around on these is like 9 months to a year? That would make me lose interest quick. I think Chris knows all the details on some manufactures.

Gary
 
Gary,

Fred got his from Moldex...I've also heard about the lead time being extremly long, but haven't talked to them yet to confirm that.


David
 
This is awful news Ricardo....

I know you've taken good care of your engine and it ran very very well when I was in it at Carlisle 2001.

I guess the Steigmeir Heads/Cam along with all your other goodies proved to be too much for something in the bottom end.

But of course I'm assuming that you used brand new fel-pro headgaskets (or perhaps something better like the 4.2 HG) and ARP head studs in the reassy. Right?

I would be very interested in finding out the cause of your failure so others here don't make the same mistakes.

At any rate, I do hope to see you at carlisle 2004 even if you don't have your SC. :(

And I'm also interested in hearing about your eventuall build up of the new engine. (Hey 8G's into the car, you cannot part with it now... you're in too deep!!!) :D
 
SC-71 TBIRD said:
Hey ricardoa1, I have a couple of questions. Was it difficult to swap the early model Tbird bumper and Lights to the later model version? What has to be done to accomplish the swap? Did you buy the bumper from the junkyard or bought it new from some other vendor? I might consider doing that to my Tbird when I have the money to get the body painted. Thanks.
:)

Alot of guys are have done what I did, its easy but expensive, you need the hood, bumper, lights, headerpanel, and impact pad, it all bolts on.

Deep6 said:
I know you've taken good care of your engine and it ran very very well when I was in it at Carlisle 2001.

I guess the Steigmeir Heads/Cam along with all your other goodies proved to be too much for something in the bottom end.

But of course I'm assuming that you used brand new fel-pro headgaskets (or perhaps something better like the 4.2 HG) and ARP head studs in the reassy. Right?

I would be very interested in finding out the cause of your failure so others here don't make the same mistakes.

At any rate, I do hope to see you at carlisle 2004 even if you don't have your SC. :(

And I'm also interested in hearing about your eventuall build up of the new engine. (Hey 8G's into the car, you cannot part with it now... you're in too deep!!!) :D

I did do it right the second time. 4.2 gaskets were used, I just think that there was some coolant in there even though I drained the oil I feel that there was some residue that got to the bearings, the coolant probably got in there when I removed the front cover and intake manifold. I think the bearings were about to go before I did the head swap. I felt a slight knock in the engine, not really noticeble. I dont think I had much life left on it. If you guys remember my car car always had detonation problems, which I was never able to figure out. Alot of the modifications that I did was to try and fix the detonation problem, and to no avail. I hope with the rebuild the thing will run as good as some of the other powerfull mills.
PS the $8,000 is debt from this year alone. I think if I itemize what I have done to the car, I would faint.;)


I still dont know which way to go with this thing, it seems that the 4.3 idea is for someone with more funds and more time in their hands, All I know to do is replace parts.
Anyone know how much Chris Wise charges for some, Ross pistons and Hbeam rods. Also no one know about the Girdle Windage tray combo?
Morana has the combo, I am curious to see if its a one piece deal, or he simply uses a an SC Tray and modify them to fit the Girdle.
 
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Ricardo perhaps the 4.2 gaskets let go ina bad way and you hydro locked..Try pullin the plug sand see if it will crank?,,Still not sure the added expense of a 4.3 is worth the money
 
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